llm models
for Open-source adopters
Llama 3 (70B) vs Mistral Large: which is better for Open-source adopters?
TL;DR for Open-source adopters
Llama 3 (70B) provides an open-source flagship with strong community support; Mistral Large offers a leaner, multilingual API with competitive pricing.
Key Differences
| Feature | Llama 3 (70B) | Mistral Large |
|---|---|---|
| Open source vs closed API | Llama 3 (70B) approach | Mistral Large approach |
| Context (8k vs 128k) | Llama 3 (70B) approach | Mistral Large approach |
| Community & ecosystem | Llama 3 (70B) approach | Mistral Large approach |
| Fine-tuning flexibility | Llama 3 (70B) approach | Mistral Large approach |
| Multilingual support | Llama 3 (70B) approach | Mistral Large approach |
| Pricing per token | Llama 3 (70B) approach | Mistral Large approach |
Pricing Snapshot
Llama 3: open & free to self-host (API ~$0.30/M input, $0.40/M output); Mistral: ~$2/M input & $6/M output (2025‑10‑13)
Last reviewed: 2025-10-13
Llama 3 (70B)
Choose Llama 3 (70B) if:
- You want open weights & customization
- You have GPU capacity
- You value community tooling
Pros
- + Open weights & permissive license
- + Strong reasoning & coding
- + Fine-tuning & quantization support
- + Active open-source community
- + Good English performance
Cons
- - Shorter context (~8k)
- - No multimodal capability
- - Requires significant compute to host
- - Limited non-English performance
Mistral Large
Choose Mistral Large if:
- You want multilingual API access
- You need >32k context & function calling
- You prefer managed hosting
Pros
- + Strong reasoning & coding
- + Multilingual (EN/FR/ES/DE/IT)
- + Competitive pricing ($2/M input, $6/M output)
- + Available via API & Azure
- + Function calling support
Cons
- - Closed weights
- - Shorter context than some models
- - Not multimodal
- - Subscription only
Also Consider
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